Corinne Claiborne "Lindy" Boggs

/tiles/non-collection/b/boggs_lindy_boggs_photo_nara.xmlImage Courtesy of the National Archives and Records AdministrationLindy Claiborne Boggs

Corinne Claiborne “Lindy” Boggs spent nearly three decades as her husband’s political confidante before winning her own seat in 1973. After House Majority Leader Hale Boggs’s airplane vanished without a trace over Alaska in 1972, his seat was declared vacant. Lindy Boggs declared her candidacy and went on to serve nine terms as the first woman elected from Louisiana.

A reporter once bestowed upon Lindy Boggs the title “venerable Democratic hostess,” which she said she accepted if “the criteria included putting together persons with ideas, legislative clout, and funding capabilities.”

She admitted to employing Southern charm to implement ideas, notably, the inclusion of “sex and marital status” to the list of anti-discrimination conditions in the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Boggs’s political skills—her ability to influence others, her connections with fellow Members, and her skill at negotiating compromise—contributed to the reasons why this room where she and her colleagues held innumerable discussions and meetings over the years bears her name.